9 Things to Know About Amazon Prime Air Drone Delivery Service

If you're a postman, look away now. The future of deliveries is here – and it's all about drones. It's long been known that autonomous flying machines are the future, because the movies told us so, but now it's become a reality thanks to Amazon, who, with the aid of one Jeremy Clarkson, has not only formally detailed plans for its own drone delivery service, Amazon Prime Air, but started testing it in the UK too.

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One of the driving forces behind the futuristic postal worker replacements, the online retailer has now offered firm details on its airborne package providers. Although tests have begun, an exact date of rollout is still to be confirmed, but the future is edging, very notably, closer. Here's everything you need to know about the Amazon Prime Air drone delivery service.

1. It's like a tiny Harrier Jump Jet

With vertical take-off and landing skills and horizontal flight, the Amazon Prime Air drones are a helicopter/airplane hybrid of sorts – much like the Harrier Jump Jet. Topping an altitude of 100 meters and capable of hitting speeds close to 100 kph, the drones will have to return to base after each delivery for recharging. Designed as a last resort in the delivery hierarchy – you're not supposed to use them for every order, just the emergencies – they're likely to be costly to use.

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As well as space saving, there's another benefit to these vertical moves. Without having to cruise in to land at low altitude, the drones should be firmly out of reach of pesky kids stood on the top of their garage with a big stick trying to knock them out of the air to pilfer their payload.

2. There's going to be a number of different drone designs

The Big A has already shown off what a couple of its air-based delivery devices will look like (they're pretty damn boxy and bulky for flying machines). These are just the start though. There are a number of drone types we'll soon see in our skies.

At present there's more than a dozen different drone designs being worked on by Amazon in the US, UK, Austria and Israel. Each is designed for use in different environments and will have varying ranges and the ability to carry packages of different sizes. But with a weight limit of five pounds, think more shoes and games than sets of weights and new TVS.

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3. You'll need a helipad in your garden

Okay, not a full-sized tarmac circle – that wouldn't be practical – but an Amazon-branded landing mat. Acting as a homing-beacon of sorts for the drone, the logo-adorned pad is used to help guide the drone in and acts as a smooth, safe place for the machine to deposit its payload.

The landing pad is small and lightweight meaning it can be easily moved to a more spacious location and stored away when you're not expecting a delivery. Just watch out for your mate trying to place it on the roof of your car or nail it to the top of your shed, yeah?

4. Deliveries will be tricky if you live in a flat or tower block

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As the drones have to make a controlled landing in a nicely spacious area, city-dwellers and those of you in blocks of flats are going to have some issues. As well as obstacles such as telephone wires and narrow streets, the lack of a private landing area could prove problematic.

Deliver to your mass-inhabited building, for example, and by the time you get down to the communal courtyard, chances are a drone-tracking crook will have commandeered your abandoned package.

5.It will know how to dodge pigeons

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Flying at an altitude up to 400 ft keeps these delivery drones well out of the way of aircrafts. It puts them in prime bird territory though. Fortunately, thanks to integrated cameras and sensors (their "sense and avoid" technology"), the automated flying machines are able to dodge our feathery friends and other airborne obstructions.

Sense-and-avoid technologies will help the drones evade obstacles and obstructions that might cause a very PR-unfriendly crash - while integrated GPS and sophisticated navigation tools will put the drone back on track after any unexpected avoidance maneuvers.

6. It's going to be quick, very quick

Having to wait 3 to 5 business days for a delivery is already a thing of the past. Many firms offer next or even same-day deliveries and Amazon offers a 1-hour service in a number of major cities. Impatiently, however, the online retailer is still not happy with this wait time and claims Prime Air will make deliveries a near instantaneous affair.

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Within 30 minutes of your order being placed, your goods could be sat on your lawn or driveway. With the drones having been shown to clock speeds of up to 60mph – and with little air traffic to dodge – drone deliveries are not only going to be more convenient, but often quicker than heading to the shops.

7. There's no more waiting around for a 2-hour delivery window

If you're fed up of waiting for that particularly vague, and actually unhelpful delivery window ("Your goods will be with you between 6am and 11pm" – why thank you!), Amazon's drones will cut out the hassle. Not only will you be notified when you're package takes to the skies, there'll be a timer counting down the seconds to delivery.

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That's not all. If you've urgently had to nip out – or an unexpected visitor has just parked in your drive/landing zone – the accompanying Prime Air app lets you postpone delivery at the last minute. Handy.

8. You're going to need to live close to a distribution centre

Undoubtedly impressive, yes. But the instant savior to your shopping woes? Not a chance. These drones, just like your smartphone or wearable, have a performance-restricting flaw – battery life. A potential problem for the airborne devices, the debut drone features a 15 mile range. That's 7.5 miles there and the same back.

If you live out in the sticks and were hoping to avoid lengthy trips to the shops, Prime Air might not be your answer. Not just yet anyway. Inevitably this will improve, but come its introduction, you're going to have to be in suburbia or miss out.

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9. Don't expect any airborne deliveries anytime soon

Amazon is serious about drone deliveries. We've known that for a long time and its latest Clarkson-infused unveil has only further highlighted the serious nature with which the retailer is pursuing aerial shipping. It's still some way off though.

While the technology might be there, the regulations aren't. If Amazon's drones are going to fly out of line of sight (more than 10 miles), regulations need to change first – and this won't be a speedy process. What's more, Amazon itself has put a damper on those expecting flying packages come January 1. The firm caveated its big unveil by stating it "will not launch Prime Air until we are able to demonstrate safe operations".

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